Six media and entertainment deals of 2016

Picture source: ThinkStockMedia & entertainment industry had a big urge to merge in 2016. A lot of leading companies took the consolidation route through mergers and acquisitions to fortify their presence. Take a look at who bought whom in 2016:

The biggest and the most talked-about deal sent the entire media industry into a tizzy. AT&T is America’s second-largest mobile operator while Time Warner is owner of prized content-generating powerhouses such as HBO and Warner Brothers. The deal signifies a growing trend of telecom giants going the whole hog for content, similar to the Reliance-Network 18 deal back home. The deal gives AT&T a strong footing against its rival Comcast, which owns NBC Universal. It will also help AT&T counter the growing threat from online rivals such as Netflix and Amazon.

India's sports-broadcasting sector saw a big shake-up in mid-2016 when Zee Group’s Ten Sports bouquet of sports channels was bought by Sony Pictures Networks India for a reported sum of Rs 2,600 crore. Zee was in the market for quite some time for its loss-making sports business. Former Ten Sports boss Peter Hutton says it is a win-win for all the parties. "Sony gets a business that will help drive all affiliate and ad sales revenues, and Zee will get the cash to invest in their wider business and improve their immediate cash flow, while Star will see less competition in the Indian sports rights market, reducing the potential inflation rate of sports properties," he told ET when the deal was announced.

Coming together of Dish TV and Videocon D2H signals that consolidation is the way forward in the DTH space. The combined entity will have around 26.4 million subscribers, that's 45 per cent of all active DTH subscribers in India. D2H, which is listed on Nasdaq, was considerably debt-laden and was a laggard in the DTH space. Analysts say long-term advantages arising out of synergies should outweigh any short-term concerns over the deal.

Anil Ambani, who has of late begun shrinking his media empire, decided to sell his stake in his radio and TV business to Zee Group. Anil, however, continues to own the business channel BTVi and continues to invest in film production and digital space. The deal helps Zee cement its position among the hinterland audience with channels such as BIG Ganga Magic. It also adds to its expanding bouquet of general entertainment channels. Zee Media Corporation, which houses the news channels of the group, will acquire 49 per cent stake in BIG FM, which operates 45 operational licences (issued under Phase II and migrated to Phase III) and 14 new licences (issued under Phase III) while Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd will own RBNL's TV business.

5. NZME's proposed merger with Fairfax

New Zealand's two dominant media players sealed a deal under which NZME would pay $NZ55 million in cash and issue shares to give Australia's Fairfax Media a 41 per cent stake in the merged business. The proposed merger has drawn criticism from their own editorial staff as the move is seen to threaten journalistic credibility and cause job losses. The merger was sold as an attempt by both companies to stem revenue losses. New Zealand’s competition watchdog said it would oppose the merger as it would substantially diminish competition in several markets.

Zee snapped up Hum 106.2 FM—UAE's first Hindi and Urdu film and music radio station. ZEE has become one of very few networks in the region to have media presence across television, radio and digital. It follows a policy of aggressively expanding its network footprint. It had first entered the UAE with Bollywood TV channel Zee Aflam in 2008, following it with dubbed Arabic channel Zee Alwan in 2012.